We Baby Boomers can’t help but notice the explosion of advertisements for drugs that are supposed to help us deal with the indignities of growing older.
Our television sets are inundated by ads for all kinds of drugs that are purported to help us lose weight, hear better, see better, relieve aches and pains we get while exercising and control Type 2 diabetes.
There is no shortage of these kinds of ads, particularly at the dinner hour or those times customarily set aside for news programming.
The two biggest catalysts for this phenomenon are former President Ronald Reagan’s repeal of the Fairness Act that held advertisers’ feet to the fire if they peddled false claims, and the legislative actions that opened the floodgates enabling drug companies to sell their wares like soap, cars, toothpaste and clothing.
So now we see and hear all kinds snake oil salesmen exhorting us to buy their products and then we’ll feel better, regardless of whether or not the goodies are “as advertised.”
The most compelling of these miracle products for me is Prevagen, which is supposed to improve memory, which too many of us find we are losing as we age.
Prevagen at first was famous for touting an ingredient found in jellyfish, which I admit I find intriguing. Since then the manufacturer has upped the stakes by producing many testimonials of seemingly average workaday folks who tell us Prevagen has played a major role in making them sharper in their recollections.
This indeed plays well to a fool such as I, who has become extremely concerned over the past several years that I sometimes have been unable to remember the names of people I should know and recognize.
My fearful episodes have included forgetting the names of rock singer Grace Slick, local TV meteorologist Ellen Bacca, former Detroit Tigers catcher third base and bench coach Gene Lamont (on more than one occasion) and a variety of people I cover on a regular basis on Townbroadcast. Heck, I even forgot the last name of Leighton Township Fire Chief Matt Weston.
This unpleasant development has so unnerved me that I have begun to take seriously the Prevagen ads on TV. What’s held me back is mixed reviews from people I ask who have tried it and from my doctor, who pointed out that Pevagen is not available by prescription, but instead is sold over the counter.
The same kinds of conditions prevail in my quest to relieve the symptoms of Sciatica, which have been plaguing me off and on over the past three years. Because of this I have developed a keen interest in the “Good Feet Store” ads, though I have learned insurance won’t cover them.
My real problem is that if these products don’t deliver on what they promise, I am simply out of whatever money I lay down. These are the consequences of the hatchet job in the Fairness in Advertising Act and the expansion of advertising to drug companies.
It is very simply “Buyer Beware!” The onus used to be on companies to show their products do what they promise. But now the onus is on the unwashed masses who certainly don’t have medical or pharaceutical degrees.
So if I cave and buy Prevagen and it doesn’t improve my memory, I’m simply added to the dungheap of sad suckers.
I gave in to the commercial hype & used a memory boost supplement for a couple of months. I conducted some simple comparison tests & found I should have spent the $60 on the skirt & sweater I liked at Target. I admit however, I do use a joint supplement. There is a definite a difference when I have stopped them. Coupled with the supplement, I also follow a mild exercise routine to help strengthen the muscles that assist the joints.
Aging has brought me a myriad of physical problems, and some of them have been greatly mitigated by prescription drugs. But after asking my several doctors about others I’ve seen advertised on TV, the common complaint among these professionals has been the fact that Big Pharma advertises constantly for prescription remedies that bring people to their offices begging for these drugs, even though the doctors don’t consider them appropriate for the conditions that brought the masses to their doors. My docs have told me that they waste far too much office visit time talking patients out of these drugs because television has convinced them it is THE thing that will cure their problem.
If they could have one wish, my doctors have said, they would wish we could go back to the days when drugs could not be advertised, whether on TV or in print ads in newspapers and the few magazines that are still available in print.